In The Media

Monthly Archives: June 2013

We all like to indulge while we’re on vacation (think all-inclusive buffets and umbrella drinks!), so we usually end up putting on more weight than we took off to go on the trip in the first place. It’s important to take a break and soak up the relaxing atmosphere, but that doesn’t mean that you should take a breather from your workout. Do your body a favor and follow these five fit travel tips and leave the bathing suit coverup behind.

Pack your workout clothes. It seems simple, but most of us don’t bother to pack them when we’re traveling. Sure, sneakers may be clunkier than some of your other items, so just wear them on the plane, train, or bus and save room in your suitcase. It’s also a good idea to sleep in your workout clothes so you can pop out of bed and be ready to travel comfortably. You don’t even need to pack pajamas or bathing suits with fitness duds made by Astrosportswear. Their shorts and yoga pants are as silky as PJs, and their sports bras double as bathing suits with support, comfort and tropical patterns. Just one set goes from bed to gym to swim so there’s no excuse not to bring them.

Pack light fitness gear. Use mesh zippered packing cubes to store your fitness clothes so you know exactly where to find them in your big old suitcase. Another great, small, and inexpensive fitness product is called Yoga Paws. They’re little sticky mat gloves for your hands and feet that you can keep in your carry-on so you can do yoga without packing a big mat. You should also pack a small travel laundry bag to separate the sweaty workout clothes from the fresh ones. Tide has an adorable blue polka-dotted one that fights odor.

Eat vegetarian as much as you can. When in transit, treat apples, salads, veggie sides, tomato juice, and minestrone soup like gold if you see them on a menu or in a food cart. Eating like this will help you stay ‘regular’ and give you a flat belly, as well as provide good nutrition to fight colds and germs from others on the airplane. If you can’t find veggies, buy a Fiber One Bar. When at a restaurant, play the open & shut menu game. Open the menu, identify the three healthiest dishes, close the menu, and then start a conversation with those sitting with you. By the time the server comes to take your order, you’ll have forgotten about the tempting buttery or cheese-filled dishes you were initially drooling over. Once your healthy meal arrives, you’ll be satisfied and won’t even miss the fatty and fried dish you might have picked out. Plus you won’t feel bloated and can do something active, like going for a long scenic walk, after you digest your meal.

Plan an active vacation. When figuring out your game plan for the day, schedule a workout early so you don’t mess up anyone’s travel/sightseeing itineraries. Better yet, map out a sightseeing route and run a different way each day to explore the area. Pick activities that involve a hike, walking tour, swimming, snorkeling, or an adventure park with zip lines, swinging ropes, rock wall climbing, etc. Another tip: Book a hotel room on a high floor that’s far away from an elevator. This will motivate you to either take the stairs or walk down the long hallway to your room/elevator which equals more calories burned. There’s also a lot less noise when you’re not near the elevator which means you’ll get better sleep.

Bring multimedia that’ll get you moving. Create a heart-pumping selection of songs on your iPod or smartphone and bring any fitness DVDs that’ll wake up your mind and body. Check out sites like FitMixPro.com [ONLY FOR FITNESS PROFESSIONALS?] and Rock My Run for some fun and motivating music mixes. As for fitness DVDs, try out my NikkiFitness Fit Travel Workout. It was shot around the world in locations like China, Italy, and Mexico to prove that you can fit in a workout no matter where life takes you. Want a beach read? Visit Macmillan audiobooks to get some bestselling novels that you can listen to while you’re exercising. It’ll help make your workout fly by.

Fitness – fit it in this summer!
Nicole Glor is the founder and president of NikkiFItness. She is a 35-year-old fitness expert, author of The Slimnastics Workout, and the star of 8 fitness DVDs including Hard Core Abs DVD, Fit Travel Workout DVD, Booty Camp, The Slimnastics DVD, Red Carpet Runway Workout, Military Wife Workout, Baby Bootie Camp, and the Beach Bride Destination Wedding Workout (Amazon). Nikki’s workouts have been featured in over 100 national media outlets including the New York Times, Live! With Kelly and Michael, Fox & Friends, GMA Health, Shape, Self, Fitness, and Women’s Health. She is also an AFAA certified NYC personal trainer, group fitness instructor at Crunch in Manhattan, and a 200hr RYT YogaFit/Yoga Alliance trained yoga instructor. Her “Slimnastics” workouts focus on multitasking toning and plyomentric cardio intervals (HIIT- High Intensity Interval Training) to cut workout time in half and boost metabolism. Search for “NikkiFitness” on Facebook and Twitter, and get the free newsletters, music playlists, video demos and DVDs at www.nikkifitness.com

One of the most common questions people ask around the gym, is “What cleanse will make me drop pounds quick?”

Fitness experts will tell you to stay away from cleanses and “juice fasts” because they mess with your metabolism, and leave you hungry and angry, a condition I call “hangry.” You may lose weight temporarily, but gain it back and make yourself miserable at the same time. Your body and health will suffer from lack of vitamins and nutrients.

There is one cleanse out there that will work without leaving you hungry and malnutritioned. It’s called a vegan diet.You’ve heard of it, and maybe thought it was too extreme a lifestyle choice, so wrote it off. But have you considered trying it in place of a cleanse? If you want to drop weight the fast and proven safe way, talk to a vegan, get a vegan cookbook, go shopping and research it online. Not only will you be eating healthy and clean meals made of fruits and vegetables, but you will also cut out things that may be bloating you, like dairy and meat. All the extra flat-belly fiber in the fruits and vegetables will lead you to be more, um, regular, so much of what you eat leaves the next day!

Not sure about all that chopping in the kitchen? There are some great vegan and vegetarian frozen microwave meals out there, like Gardein and Amy’s organic meals. Chloe’s’ Kitchen is a best-selling vegan cookbook, which even allows for the occasional piece of cake. You can also rest assured that you are doing your body good by fighting cancer and inflammation, as recommended by the China Study.

Not sure you can go vegan for a week? Try being vegetarian all week, or go vegan all day and then eat lean meats like wild-caught ish and free-range poultry for dinner with more vegetables. Whenever I need to slim down, I eat fruit for breakfast, vegetables for lunch, and a sensible dinner with fish or chicken (with snacks like almond milk, fiber-rich bread and nuts in between.) In fact, there is a brand new book out called Eat Vegan Before 6:00 (VB6) that now puts a fun name to this kind of eating, and the author, Mark Bittman, includes his own success with this diet and easy recipes.

The bottom line? To slim your bottom and drop a size quickly, eat vegan temporarily, watch your calories, and limit alcohol intake, which adds empty calories and may lead you to choosing bad foods after imbibing. Try it for a week and you’ll see how great a healthy cleanse makes you feel and look, especially in the summer when fresh garden fare is available! Once you eat clean, you might even lose your cravings for butter, red meat and cheese altogether, and keep the weight off permanently – something you could never sustain on juices alone.

Summer Clean-Eating Cleanse

One of the most common questions people ask around the gym, is “What cleanse will make me drop pounds quick?”

Fitness experts will tell you to stay away from cleanses and “juice fasts” because they mess with your metabolism, and leave you hungry and angry, a condition I call “hangry.” You may lose weight temporarily, but gain it back and make yourself miserable at the same time. Your body and health will suffer from lack of vitamins and nutrients.

There is one cleanse out there that will work without leaving you hungry and malnutritioned. It’s called a vegan diet.You’ve heard of it, and maybe thought it was too extreme a lifestyle choice, so wrote it off. But have you considered trying it in place of a cleanse? If you want to drop weight the fast and proven safe way, talk to a vegan, get a vegan cookbook, go shopping and research it online. Not only will you be eating healthy and clean meals made of fruits and vegetables, but you will also cut out things that may be bloating you, like dairy and meat. All the extra flat-belly fiber in the fruits and vegetables will lead you to be more, um, regular, so much of what you eat leaves the next day!

Not sure about all that chopping in the kitchen? There are some great vegan and vegetarian frozen microwave meals out there, like Gardein and Amy’s organic meals. Chloe’s’ Kitchen is a best-selling vegan cookbook, which even allows for the occasional piece of cake. You can also rest assured that you are doing your body good by fighting cancer and inflammation, as recommended by the China Study.

Not sure you can go vegan for a week? Try being vegetarian all week, or go vegan all day and then eat lean meats like wild-caught ish and free-range poultry for dinner with more vegetables. Whenever I need to slim down, I eat fruit for breakfast, vegetables for lunch, and a sensible dinner with fish or chicken (with snacks like almond milk, fiber-rich bread and nuts in between.) In fact, there is a brand new book out called Eat Vegan Before 6:00 (VB6) that now puts a fun name to this kind of eating, and the author, Mark Bittman, includes his own success with this diet and easy recipes.

The bottom line? To slim your bottom and drop a size quickly, eat vegan temporarily, watch your calories, and limit alcohol intake, which adds empty calories and may lead you to choosing bad foods after imbibing. Try it for a week and you’ll see how great a healthy cleanse makes you feel and look, especially in the summer when fresh garden fare is available! Once you eat clean, you might even lose your cravings for butter, red meat and cheese altogether, and keep the weight off permanently – something you could never sustain on juices alone.

Feel and look great this summer from what you eat, to how you sleep and what you wear with my new NikkiFitness Faves!

SUMMER CLEAN EATING

Gardein – Why spend an hour chopping and cooking when you can spend 30 minutes working out and 30 minutes showering and getting gorgeous for dinner? When I don’t have time for a workout and a home-cooked meal, I go for these great-tasting, meat-free protein options for people looking to live a healthier lifestyle. If you are trying to limit your red meat consumption, and include more fat-belly fiber in veggies, try these quick meals. They are low-calorie too. Find them at a grocery store nearby by visiting www.gardein.com and putting your zip code into their handy store-locator.

NuttZo – You always hear about the benefits of less meat and more lean proteins like nuts, but sometimes popping a handful is not as fun as eating a sandwich. Until NuttZo. These nuts and seed spreads are “Omega-3 powerhouses of nutrition. It’s a 100% organic and delicious product that only has 1g of sugar. Another reason to butter up, Nutzo is also proud supporter or Project Left Behind, a non-profit focused on providing nourishment and surrogate nurturing tools to orphans and the world. https://gonuttzo.com

Stretch Island Fruit Chews are a guilt free treat that I and my toddler love equally. They are made with 100 percent real fruit , no artificial sweeteners, and Non-GMO verified. They come in strawberry, cherry (my favorite) and raspberry. The ingrediets include apple, pear and berry purees and can be found at retailers nationwide, including Amazon.com and Wal-mart

SUMMER SKIN and STYLE

BrownBerry Sunless Tanner – Skin cancer runs in my family, so I don’t take chances with my skin. Sunless tanner keeps me safe and my 36-year old skin from pre-mature wrinkles, while I feel toned and bronzed. The creator of BrownBerry had a medical skin condition of her own, which inspired her to find a way to bear her arms and legs without embarrassment. She worked with top NYC events, airbrush studios and hotels to perfect her airbrush system, so you don’t have to rub it in and get it on your hands. Now, all women can fearlessly achieve the flawless results that once only came from a professional airbrush compressor at a salon. Meredith Fish ensures all her products are dermatologist tested and contain only the finest naturally derived ingredients. Best of all? The leading ingredient is Vitamin D3 (the good by-product of natural sunlight). Applied topically, Vitamin D3’s antioxidant properties smooth and soften skin and help treat skin conditions like Vitiligo Psoriasis. Touted as the cure‐all for everything from depression to heart disease and skin cancer, Vitamin D3 is the new “it” ingredient for skincare. www.brownberrynyc.com/‎

Athleta – These bright designs look great out on the town, in the gym for yoga or cardio/toning, and even on the beach! I love them because you can wear them anywhere, which means less to pack during summer travel. I recently wore the bright “Twistini Tankini in Poseidon Blue” top and “Space Dye Multi-colored Kata swim shorts” on a beach fitness segment on Fox & Friends. www.atheta.com

SUMMER SLEEP

Sheex – Any athlete or fitness buff know, getting 8 hours in bed is as important as an hour working out each day. You need time for your muscles and body to recover, and energy from a good night sleep so that you feel energized enough to work out the next day. Like the athletic performance fabrics that inspired them, SHEEX silky sheets and pillow cases provide enhanced breathability (they claim its nearly 50% better than cotton, which they say can trap heat and mess with your sleep), precision fit, durability, advanced temperature control, and optimal moisture-wicking. These sheets keep me cool and comfortable even on the hottest, most humid summer nights. My favorite color is the deep purple. www.sheex.com

Workouts are great for so many reasons, but they are even better when you have something to show for them aside from better health and a better bod! When you run on a treadmill or around a track, you don’t really create anything other than sweat. That’s why I love this time of year, you can work out while creating something: a garden, a rock wall around your yard, or building a fence or deck.

Yard work is a workout, but you should follow some guidelines to make sure that you are working your entire body safely and effectively:

1) Lift with your legs, not your back. This not only protects your back (and with a bad back you can’t do your other fitness routines) but it also means you squat more, and squatting is the way to a great backside because squats work your glutes, and quads! So when lifting rocks, wood, or bags of dirt and pants, bend your knees and squat like you are sitting into an imaginary chair. Hold the item close to you and stand, keeping the shoulders back and chin up the whole time.

2) Work both sides of the body evenly. For example, if you are “turning over” a garden with a pitchfork, use your legs and right arm to power the push into the dirt, then stomp the fork in deeper with your right leg and foot. Next, use your legs to squat (instead of making your arms and back do all the work) and initiate the press down of the handle to lift the dirt. Next, use your right arm and biceps to force the dirt off the ground to flip it and mix it up. Do this 4 times on the right side, then be sure to switch to your left to work the muscles evenly, protect your back, ad ensure that you are not just relying on your dominant side.

3) Dress for protection. First of all, wear gloves. Calluses, blisters, cuts and splinters can put a painful stop to your outdoor projects, as well as hurt your gym and fitness DVD routines. If you can’t use your hands to lift weights and do push-ups for the rest of the week, you’ll be packing on the pounds before you know it. Protect your future workouts by protecting your hands. Also wear sunscreen and drink lots of water. You’ll be shedding clothes as your body heats up so prepare for it in advance.

4) Do it the old fashion way! That pitch-fork routine I mentioned in number 3 can be done quicker with less effort if you have a Rota-tiller, but if you do it yourself with a pitchfork and muscle, you save your ears from the blasting volume of the machines, save money from having to buy them, and save the environment by not using fuel.

5) Rock your workout.

Decorate your deck, porch and landscaping with rocks, bricks and wood. Anything heavy that you have to lift, move and reach will build arm and leg muscle, which boosts metabolism and calorie burn. These will also look nice in the fall and spring when flowers are not blooming but your rock designs look elegant. As you carry rocks from one part of your property to the other, do biceps curls by lifting the weight from low to high and bending the elbows. Grab on tight and also push the rocks or boards from your shoulder to overhead and work those delts. Some other ideas are to create a border between your lawn and your bark areas or driveway, create a round rock “well” to plant sunflowers in. Circle trees with bricks. Build a fence around the vegetable garden and plant healthy food to eat, build a tree house for your kids so you have to lift overhead to work your shoulders!

Carry bags of potting soil around, then plant flowers in pots that you then have to lift and move around the yard, or in tall window boxes so you have to lift items from low (ground) to high (window).

Do planks while weeding your garden to work your abs and arms.

Shovel to stir up your compost heap. Use arms and legs instead of the back, and again alternate sides and dominant hands.

Completing your project will make you doubly proud of yourself, for not skipping your workout and for having something to show for it! So follow these steps to put the workout in your yard work!

When I first had my baby, many moms warned me that there would be no time to work out. I found that I could work out during his naps, but then I didn’t have time to clean the house and shower as well. I decided to make up a routine I could do with him during that first year, so that I could get other things done during his naps. As he got older, I found other ways of fitting in my fitness with my little guy, so here are some of my trainer tips for other moms who want to stay in shape and have quality time with their little ones too!

Running after and picking up toys should burn enough calories to make us all look like supermodels, right? If it’s not doing the trick for you, here are some other ways to sneak in your fitness without having to sacrifice time with the kids. Being a good fitness role model for your family is better than being a super model anyway!

6 weeks old to 3 Years – My Baby Bootie Camp DVD (www.nikkifitness.com is a 15 minute routine you can do throughout the day. My baby was my own personal trainer, not wanting little shakes and jiggles to calm him, he wanted me to hold him for lunges and squats! He also loved the baby biceps curls, patty-cake crunches and rocking thigh moves. Check out a demo here: www.youtube.com/Nikkifitness Also don’t be afraid to push that stroller everywhere, especially to baby-and-me yoga classes, for long walks to work your booty. Running strollers are great for multitasking as well!

3 – 5 years – Scooter time! Trade that stroller in for a toddler scooter and helmet. My little guy can go for over 40 NYC blocks in a single trek, and fast, so I learned to only take him out with the scooter if I was in my running shoes and gym clothes so I could jog and catch up to him in the park or at each street corner for safety.

6+ years – bike together with your kids to take them to play dates, doctor appointments, and school each morning.

High School – get your kids involved in track, basketball and other sports you can play together to talk about your day and enjoy the endorphins of exercise together.

At any age – active vacations! Go places that have adventures like kayaking, zip-lining, stand-up paddle boarding, surfing, parasailing, rock-wall climbing and snorkeling. Keep making memories, burning calories and staying active. If you can’t take a trip, find a great set of fitness DVDs or a family gym with gymnastics, Zumba and family yoga for weekend fitness fun!

Fitness – fit it in with the family! Nikki

BIO
NikkiFitness, Nicole Glor, is 35-year-old mom, fitness expert, author of The Slimnastics Workout, and the star of 8 fitness DVDs including Hard Core Abs DVD, Fit Travel Workout DVD, Booty Camp, Red Carpet Runway Workout, Military Wife Workout, Baby Bootie Camp, and the Beach Bride Destination Wedding Workout (Amazon). Nikki’s workouts have been featured in over 100 national media outlets including the New York Times, Fox & Friends, GMA Health, Shape, Self, Fitness, and Women’s Health, and she appears weekly on national TV. She is also an AFAA certified NYC personal trainer, group fitness instructor at Crunch in Manhattan, and a 200hr RYT YogaFit/Yoga Alliance trained yoga instructor. Her “Slimnastics” workouts focus on multitasking toning and plyomentric cardio intervals (HIIT- High Intensity Interval Training) to cut workout time in half and boost metabolism. Search for “NikkiFitness” on Facebook and Twitter and get her newsletters, music playlists, video demos and DVDs at www.nikkifitness.com

We’re all guilty of succumbing to our food desires, especially when it’s a holiday. Maybe you felt like having ‘just one more’ margarita, hot dog, brownie—or whatever unhealthy pleasure was calling your name. Sure, you only live once, but it’s important to give your body a rest from the junk-fest.

Luckily it’s a new day, and you can drink green tea, eat like a vegan, and do detox yoga poses to get yourself back on track! Here are four of my favorite yoga twist poses that I add to my Slimnastics Yoga Flowroutines whenever I’ve been naughty. They’ll wring out your organs and intestines to promote digestion and toxin removal and help cleanse your body (and soul).

Start in Lunge Pose: Anjaneyasana (lunge) with your right leg forward. Bring your palms together at heart center. With your left knee lifted, push your left heel back and reach the crown of your head forward to lengthen your spine.

Exhale and twist towards your right leg. Place your left tricep on your right thigh, attempting to get your torso as close to your leg as possible.

Push your palms together to engage your arms and try to twist in deeper, sending your chest towards the sky and gazing upwards.

Stay here for up to 1 minute. To exit the pose, unwind and place your hands down on the mat, then step back to Downward Facing Dog Pose. Repeat with the left leg forward.

Revolving Triangle – Parivrtta Trikonasana

Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step your right foot back, about 3 feet away from your left foot. Place hands on hips. Your right foot should be turned to the right about 45 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Square your hips as much as possible with the front edge of your mat.

With an exhalation, tip at the hip and lean/reach forward over your front edge of the mat and front toes with a flat back. Then take the right arm to the floor or a block, inside or outside the left foot, and the left arm to the ceiling, twisting towards the straight front leg.

Turn the head and gaze up at sky. From the center of the back, between the shoulder blades, press the arms away from the torso. Bring most of your weight to bear on the back heel and the front hand.

Stay in this pose anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute. Exhale, release the twist, and bring your torso back to upright with an inhalation. Repeat for the same length of time with the legs reversed, twisting to the left.

Seated Spinal Twist – Marichyasana III

Sit on the floor with your legs extended.

Cross right foot over outside of left thigh; keep right knee pointed toward ceiling.

Place left elbow to the outside of right knee and right hand on the floor behind you.

Exhale and twist right as far as you can, moving from your abdomen; keep both sides of your glutes on the floor. Stay for 1 minute

Switch sides and repeat.

Supine Spinal Twist – Supta Matsyendrasana

Come to lie on your back.

Draw your right knee into your chest and extend the left leg on the floor.

Drop your right knee over to the left side of your body.

Open your right arm to the right side in line with your shoulder. Rest your left hand on your right knee.

Turn your head to the right, bringing your gaze over the right shoulder. Work on releasing your left knee and your right shoulder to the floor.

Hold 5 to 10 breaths before drawing your right knee back into your chest and repeating on the other side.

by Nicole Glor

No one wants to wear sleeveless shirts or dresses when you feel like a small child could swing on your arm jiggle. Get your arms in shape and go from flab to fab by doing these 6 steps:

1. Melt the fat over the muscle. How? Bump up your cardio routine to at least 30 minutes four times a week, eat lean protein after your muscle workouts (like grilled chicken or a hard-boiled egg), and make sure you eat 6 healthy meals a day, including lots of fruits, veggies, and fiber. This will keep your metabolism regulated and ensure that you’re never starving, which could lead to making unhealthy meal choices.

2. Build muscle by increasing your dumbbell weight. You won’t see definition in your arms if you never move beyond your 5 pound weights, so you need to up the ante on what you’re lifting. Increase the weight by two pounds each week. Aim for 8 reps your first day, 10 the next, and 12 the last day—then up the weight. Work on your arm muscles three times a week with a rest day in between. Don’t worry about bulking up. Even if you’re using 15 pound dumbbells, your arms will still remain lean.

Outside biceps curl

3. Work the different muscle fibers by hitting them from different angles. For example, do outside biceps curls (elbows in by your sides, hands lift away from you out to the sides, then up to your shoulders), forward curls, hammer curls, preacher curls andcross curls (bring weights across body from left hip to right shoulder). Start with 5 pound weights then work your way up to 15 pounds. Do three sets of 12 reps three times a week. Rest the arms in between days and do cardio on those ‘off’ days.

4. Do French presses. Make your triceps a triple threat with French presses (hands together overhead holding weight, then lower weight behind your head keeping elbows pointing to the ceiling and press back up), kickbacks (lean forward, lift elbows up near your ribcage and move weights from shoulders to hips and back to shoulders), and tricep bench dips (sit on a bench, hands at your sides and lift your butt off the bench, lower down toward the floor until elbows are bent at 90 degrees and lift yourself back up by pressing through the palms). For the French presses, start with 5 pound weights then work your way up to 15. Do three sets of 12 reps three times a week. For kickbacks, stick with 5 pound weights and do 20 reps each time. For dips, work up to 30-50 reps each time.

5. Push that weight off your shoulder. Do overhead presses with weights facing forward and another set with them facing your ears using the same routine as the French presses. Do front and side extensions by keeping arms straight and lifting the 5 pound weight away from your body forward and to the side. Do 20 reps each time. Throw in some planks and yoga style down dogs in your other workout days to continue to define those delts. For down dogs and planks, hold up to 90 seconds each time.

6. Do push-ups. If you can’t get to the gym or you’re traveling, push-ups work all three areas (biceps, triceps, shoulders) and your pecs conveniently. An easy travel workout is 5 sets of 20 push-ups to equal 100. Doing 100 push-ups a few times a week is my best trainer secret, and I do them religiously. Here is a link to my push-up routine.

Tip: If you’re ever unsure of how many reps of each set to do, just go until you can’t do any more. Then rest and move into another muscle group and go back to that move for 3 sets throughout the routine. Working until ‘failure’ is the best way to ensure muscle fatigue and amazing results.

Nicole Glor is a fitness expert based in NYC, author of The Slimnastics Workout, and the star of 8 fitness DVDs. You can search for “NikkiFitness” on Facebook and Twitter.